Pete Ashby

Jobs a good'n Howard Pete

Very nice what year is it? Pete

Is that for the original 'drum' lights Howard? if so what iv'e done in the past on a couple of restorations of the early type light is buy a pair of new formed glass/reflector units that take bulbs with side light integral from one of the vintage lighting companies. By using the outer plug housing only on the drum light you can pass the main, dip and side wiring through and then use spades to connect on to the main and side bulb inside the drum. pete

Pleased it arrived safe, did it smell when you opened the plastic bag ? Pete

There are times in any restoration when you just need to sit back an enjoy the moment this was one of those moments....fitting my original NoS cab hood to the new bows..... makes it all worth while:) Pete

Looking good Howard... right decision to get a new chrome bezel:) Pete

Right got it now :blush:, yes your larger wheels will have an effect as you are very slightly gearing up at the wheel rim, the solution is to run up a bit harder in 3rd than you would normally. This is something that is sometimes missed when people fit larger tyres/wheels to up the top speed a little the drive line (gear box, transfer case and diff ratios) are then not matched to the new rolling radius at the axel. Within reason it's not a problem but you may well need to change the driving style particularly on the heavier trucks to compensate. Pete

Having re read your first post I'm not sure if you have a problem in 4th with not enough torque range or whether you are concerned because you think that the overall top speed is low? I would recommend you fit tyres/rims of the same size all round you will not be doing your drive line any favors running as you currently are. Regarding plugs and fuel which I assume is a separate issue to your speed question I have run with AC44's and Champion J8's both sets gave good service in the 216 engine, your right to use additive in your fuel unless you have hardened valve seats fitted. Pete

Hello Paul I take it you have the original 216 engine and Carter WO carb fitted? what size tyres are you running 1050 16 or something bigger? The C60L will be nearing top speed at 40mph the rated maximum speed in 4th high is 47mph but 30 to 35mph is much more comfortable and sustainable for all concerned Pete

Yes it was always an event to go and see Wally a real character, but only if you went armed with the correct part numbers !! and NOT on a golfing day, like you, happy days now long gone Pete

Try these people http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/ I've used them a lot over the years. I think you'll find something close to the bonnet side panel bead and tape among their extensive range. I wouldn't use sealants as they may cause problems with the paint finish, canvas or webbing strip is best Supper glued on and the bolt holes pushed through with a scribe. Pete

Tank is ready and waiting for you Howard just say when your man's coming. When I did my 12 cab I was fortunate to have rolls of black bituminous cork strip that I bought from Wally Wheatly (Nordian) years ago. The cork strip was for 13 cabs the 12's and late 11's seem to use bituminous cork, rubber, and bituminous canvas strip early 11's appear to be all rubber. If the joints are sealed as per factory the cabs are fairly squeak and rattle proof if the strip isn't used the squeaking/grinding creaking will drive you mad :nut: I took the asbestos motor linings out, made new staples from wire fitted them and bent them over so that from the cab it looked correct then impact bonded modern high insulation board to the inside of the panels. I can't now remember the name something like 'Asbestos Lux' it's used in boilers and cookers it's the correct thickness looks like the original and more importantly stops you cooking in the cab and burning your self on the engine side covers. Nice job Howard look forward to seeing the finished job Pete

Howard, are you using anti-squeak between the panels ? Pete

Inspirational now there's a thing Iv'e been called many things by many people Let us know how you get on regards Pete

What impressive powers of observation you do have...... full marks for spotting the numpty :blush:. It took me a little longer to figure out why it all worked just fine when I first assembled it and then wouldn't close properly when I fitted it on the truck as you point out when I reassembled the front frame I had turned the left hand bracket up side down soon sorted with no pinched fingers.......dammed difficult all this cutting edge technology. Pete

Now's the time to see if all the measurements and fabrication stood the acid rest of actually fitting the truck and what do you know it all fitted and worked just as it should These two photos show the fixed bow at the back of the cab and the folding bows in position on the side of the cab This one shows the fixed diagonal brace that keeps the back bow in the vertical position Pete

One thing I didn’t mention in the last post was that 2 of the three sets of bows have spade ends formed on them before the bending took place. After several attempts with some scrap tube it became clear that even with heating to cherry red and bashing on the anvil I could not make reproducible spade ends with a nearly flat back and recessed front face of the size needed so I looked around for someone who could. So for the price of a pint I got the ends formed by my local black smith using an ancient drop hammer. A truly awesome piece of kit overhead belt driven with no guards, when it does it’s stuff the whole building shakes and a steady rain of spiders and dust fall from the beams. Instructions were minimal, like most of his craft he is a man of few words ‘Here hold this end and don’t move until I tell you’ that was the limit of the on the job training. A couple passes on each bow end the job was done all that was needed was for me to round off and drill the spades. After the bending procedure that was covered in the last post I was now ready to make up the bows. First job was to cut off square the spare length of tube using measurement D (from the previous post or the mid- point of the truck bed if no pattern is available) this now produces a bow exactly half the width required, repeat for the other half side. The centre joint needs to be strong, direct butt welding is not an option even with the larger diameter tubes. Therefore I reinforce the joint with steel bar, it may need a bit of turning in the lathe as it should be an interference fit in the tube, gentle heating of the tube and a light tap with the hammer should be all that’s needed to push the bar in about 3’’ on small tube and around 6’’ for the larger diameters. On the larger ones I drill a couple of holes at 90’ so that I can plug weld the bar and tube together. So now there is one half of the bow with a spigot of bar sticking out, take the other half of the bow warm the tube gently to expand it push onto the spigot and close up to leave about 1.5mm gap between the ends. This bit is key……..make sure both ends of the complete bow are flat and parallel to each other before tack welding the joint, I make sure to pick up both ends and socket with the tacks before welding a continuous bead to lock in position and then dress down to a smooth finish job done,….. time for photo I think. This shows the finished joint welded and dressed down This may sound a bit of a faff and I have tried making bows out of one length with only very limited success. I found it the devil’s own job to keep the ends parallel and trying to determine the point to start the second bend so that the ends are at correct distance apart to fit the sockets was not an easy task. The two half’s method gives easy reproducible results every time as long as the centre point is measured accurately. The next job was to make the brackets that connect the three bows together and enable the hood to fold out like a pram canopy. Having items to copy was invaluable although very simple in design the shaping and the curves have to be correct or else the brackets bind on the pivots. I made the brackets from stock bar heated to cherry red and bent and formed using the anvil, vice and a length of pipe slipped over the end of the hot bar to help start the bend. These two photos show the brackets in place on the bows in the open and closed position The pivot pins were made up using appropriate Whitworth bolts welded into square nuts which in turn were then welded onto the bows in the correct position this all sounds a bit agricultural but that’s how the originals were made except they were gas welded and I use Mig. Loops for storm sheets were copied and bent up using rod of the correct diameter, footman loops for the hood buckles were fabricated from off cuts of 16 gauge sheet. Correct positions were taken from the pattern and then marked off on the new bows and welded on. So after all that I ended up with a working set of bows shown below in the open and closed positions, there is one more separate fixed bow that sits at the back of the cab I'll show that and the whole set up in position on the truck in the next post.

Thanks guys, Needs must and all that Pete

There's only so much fun you can have while wearing a welding helmet so for a little light relief I put the wing aside and thought I'd make up a set of cab hood bows just for a change from all the rust and decay. Once again I have been exceptionally fortunate in being a lent a set of original early cab bows to copy, (you know who you are and I am indebted to you), it would not have been possible to fabricate them from pictures. I've made hood bows for several trucks now using the method I'll out line below, others will have their own preferred method but I find this works for me and gives good reproduce-able results up and including tube of around 40mm OD . The tool list includes a piece of string, a stick of chalk, a wheel rim, 2m of scaffold tube and a 1m length of heavy angle iron and a large flat area of concrete that you can drill holes in and an exhaust U bolt…..all will become clear below. For the Retriever cab bows I used stock tube @ 22mm OD with 3mm wall which is very close match for the original imperial size used. Next job was to cut the stock to a measured length this is where a bit of chalk and a piece of string comes in handy or (thin wire if you prefer). The point here is that British and Canadian bows do not appear to be formed on an exact 90’ quadrant they seem to form an arc that eases into the bend and eases out of it. I’ve tried large commercial pipe benders in the past and the results seem to form a bend that enters and leaves too sharp. So this is how I do it: A On the original bow I marked with the chalk the start of the arc on the vertical leg and the finish of the arc on top for each side of the complete bow B This is the bit with the string, run the string around the outside of the arc between the two points measure this with a tape and it gives you the length of the arc. (You can do some fancy O level maths if you wish but I live on a small holding and we have lots of binder string so there you are then). C Find and mark the centre of the top bow accurately with your chalk. D Record the measurement from the end of the arc on the top bow to the centre of the bow E Measure with a tape from the bottom of the bow to first mark on the vertical Add the three measurements B,D,E together this equals one half of the length of the completed bow Add at least 0.5m to the figure you get the reason for this should become clear in minute. Too many words here let’s have some photos: This shows the angle iron and rim bolted into the concrete with expanding bolts they must be fixed very firmly as there is a fair amount of force acting on both during the bending process. The angle acts as a brace and the inside face is exactly 90’ to the inner circumference of the rim. The rim has been drilled to take an exhaust U bolt of appropriate size and adjusted so that it forms a sliding fit on the tube and positioned so that it is set at the point of the start of the arc on the vertical leg……. Eh?……….. OK just look at the photos The bow is clamped in position ready for the bend. Slide your scaffold tube onto the free end and make sure it’s tight up against the rim Now this is the bit that takes a bit of ‘umph’ particularly if bending larger diameter tube so you may wish to 'phone a friend'. Any way start to pull the free end of the bow around the rim you don’t need to do it one have several short pulls keeping the scaff tube tight against the rim or the bow will kink. When I first tried this I thought a bit of heat would help things along…… it didn’t, it was a dismal failure…. along with the exploding concrete singed hair and bad language I produced a flattened and distorted bend so put the torch away and flex those muscles. It is important that the bend is kept square as the bend progresses. To finish take the free end just past the 90’ to take out the spring in the tube so that when it relaxes it finishes at 90’ to the clamped end Repeat for the number of bows needed x2 remember you are only forming one half of the complete bow each time. In the next installment I’ll show how that load of old junk can be turned into a set of bows. I' aware this all sounds a bit long winded but it’s quicker to do than explain. If you’re doing this without a pattern then you need use the truck bed to get the centre point of the bow and the truck specification to give you overall height minus the height from the floor to the bottom of bow socket on the body. The arc length for 30cwt and 3 ton the arc radius is around 70cm and for and 8and 15cwt about 30cm, this is where the wheel rim comes into use I use a 900x16 rim for the large arcs and a an old style pressed car rim for the smaller ones.

Nearly another year gone by so I thought it was time I gave a bit of an up date. Progress on the Retriever has not been startling as several other projects have been on going however a little more has been done. My last post showed some photos of the mates side wing repair and so flushed with the result I tackled the drives side wing next if the first one was welding fresh air then this one was welding nothing but a promise, it really was in a very sorry state but in for penny as they say. The method was as previously explained for the mates side. The starting point Ho Hum better get another roll of mig wire then :-( Some replacement sections ready to go back in And so it goes on, more cutting more patterns more mig wire :yawn:

Well done Richard and I thought it was just me that needed glasses :undecided: Pete

Glad to see it's not just me, with the exception of the normal guest contributors who continue to produce interesting articles the over all aspect of the magazine has changed. I've given it time for the new team to settle in but I'm left with a strange feeling of an external and ill informed view of the movement as a whole, not sure if I'll renew and I have every issue back to No1 :-( Sorry this moan has hi jacked your thread Tim Pete PS and every Wheels and Tracks too:)

Give these people a try Howard http://www.oilsealuk.co.uk/ Pete

Is that on all wheels or just one ? the reason for asking is that dependent on your answer there are several different things that could be causing the problem. Pete